★★★★★ “An instant classic.” – Time Out New York
Oh, Mary! is a dark comedy about a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Unrequited yearning, alcoholism, and suppressed desires abound in this 80-minute one-act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln, through the lens of an idiot (playwright Cole Escola).
Declared “one of the best comedies in years” by The New York Times, Oh, Mary! has been heralded as the funniest play on Broadway by the New York Post, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, Time Out New York, and The Guardian. “It’s a bona fide phenomenon,” raves The Wall Street Journal, and Variety calls it “unquestionably the funniest, gayest, campiest play Broadway has seen in years.”
Oh, Mary! is now extended through June 29, 2025. Cole Escola dons the bratty curls through January 19, and Emmy nominee Betty Gilpin (“GLOW,” “Mrs. Davis”) stars as Mary Todd Lincoln beginning January 21 through March 16.
Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary! is not just funny: It is dizzyingly, breathtakingly funny, the kind of funny that ambushes your body into uncontained laughter. Stage comedies have become an endangered species in recent decades, and when they do pop up they tend to be the kind of funny that evokes smirks, chuckles or wry smiles of recognition. Not so here: I can’t remember the last time I saw a play that made me laugh, helplessly and loudly, as much as Oh, Mary! did—and my reaction was shared by the rest of the audience, which burst into applause at the end of every scene. Fasten your seatbelts: This 80-minute show is a fast and wild joy ride.
In its original extended run at the Lortel Theatre earlier this year, Oh, Mary! drew packed houses that one night included Steven Spielberg, Sally Field and Tony Kushner, respectively the director, co-star and screenwriter of Lincoln. The widely circulated backstage photo of the group with Escola in Mary drag no doubt helped spread the word that this was no ordinary lark. The playwright might describe it as stupid, but any comedy that liberates audiences from the despair of the current political climate with 80 minutes of almost uninterrupted laughter is a work of genius.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
2024 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play | Conrad Ricamora |
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